Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Summer is in full swing and I'm getting more fit each week. Unfortunately I haven't been doing as much running as I'd like, but what I have done has felt pretty good. Since my last post I visited both sets of my doctors and they confirmed that the fluid around my lungs was still there, but we did decide to double my diuretic dosage and that helped within days. I did a run less than two weeks after the Bolder Boulder that was nearly the same distance and nearly as fast, but with much less effort and absolutely no breathing pain. I've done a couple of other runs since then with similar results, but most of my workouts have been on the bike. Most recently I headed up Squaw Pass as a first attempt to see how much work it will be for me to summit Mt. Evans on my bike from home this year. Something I've always wanted to do. I found that just getting to Squaw Pass, essentially the base of Mt. Evans, is not just a stroll in the park. I've been along that route before, but not in a long time. I was happy with how well I was able to climb the back side of Lookout Mountain, but forgot just how far it was to get all the way to Evergreen. Even starting the climb up Squaw Pass Road felt good, but a few miles up I started to get fatigued. I was hoping to make a loop of this, but when I got to the turn off that I wanted to take it turned out to be a dirt road so I decided not to take it. I kept going hoping to get to Echo Lake, but I hadn't scoped that out before the ride so I didn't know how far it would be and I didn't have a cell signal to get maps on my phone. I had been planning on putting in 50 miles so when I reached 25 miles on my trip computer I decided to stop to re-evaluate. I took a big gulp of water and realized I was almost out. That is when I decided it was time to turn around. The trip down was a little bumpy at first, but the road smoothed out after a bit. I stopped at a gas station to refuel for the rest of the ride home and made it home without incident. Looking at the maps later I found that there were quite a few miles left before Echo Lake so I wasn't going to make it there on the fluid that I had brought with me. So, in conclusion I'm going to need more endurance and more fluid to make it to Echo Lake and I need to make it there before I begin to think about making a summit attempt. I'll keep working on my endurance, but also hope to pay attention to my running for my upcoming half marathon.